YOU ARE NOT ALONE

V Care Foundation is a voluntary support group dedicated providing free help, hope, awareness & education to cancer patients & their families through outreach programs & services that improve the quality of their lives.

V-Care has prepared this booklet to help patients & their families understand & deal with cancer &its related conditions. We believe this will help the patient & the family faces the disease together to get in touch with us for any help.

During my interaction with the patient and their families, I am often asked if incidence of cancer is on the increase, especially in India. And perhaps the answer is yes! This can be attributed to our fast changing life-styles, as well as the fact that the average life expectancy has increased over the years. It is frightening to learn that there are at least twenty-fivelakh cancers suffers/ survivors in our country, at any given point of time, and the number is on the rise!!! We would, perhaps, be the only country in the world where tobacco is not only smoked, but it is chewed, applied and sniffed as well. We have the maximum number of mouth or oral cancer in our country. The ratio, of tobacco consumption, amongst our youth population of both boys and girls is rising at an alarming pace!!

There are, still a number of myths & stigma attached to cancer, apart from the fear of survivorship. These fears & dread can from a big determent towards fighting the disease. Today there are a number of people who survive cancer, and lead a meaningful life. However, the scare of ‘cancer’, prevent survivors from talking of their experience. For example, a survivor mother does not want to talk about it for fear of not finding a good match for her daughter or parent of a child survivors prefer to keep mum about the situation at the time of the child’s marriage. Our movies and tele-serials are also part responsible for the fear of the ‘Big C’. The characters suffering from it never survives! We never blame our own carelessness in seeking timely help from a doctor, when symptoms persist.

SO what can we do if a family member or friend has been diagnosed with cancer? I think first thing would be to assure the patient that he is not alone in this fight against cancer. A strong positive support system has very positive effect not only on the physical health of the patient, but improves mental well-being and social functioning. A good social support is also beneficial to the cancer patients in adjusting to the cancer patients in adjusting to the stresses of the disease.

Secondly, it is most important for both the care-giver, and the patient to learn more about the cancer they are suffering from. It helps both to understand the situation, and it empowers you, as care-giver, to help the patient better. Interactionwith other survivors is also a great moral booster for the patient. Exchange experiences, helps the patient understand that he is not alone in his feeling, or reactons to the treatment. Therefore, do not hesitate to get in touch with support groups, such a v care, who can help you sort out your emotions, as well as provide you with a platform to interact with other survivors.

Thirdly, this is one of the most important factors, it is very important to communicate with patients. Often we find that family members do not want to disclose the diagnosis of cancer to the patient. They fear that the patient will have an increased level of anxiety, despair, sadness, depression& insomnia. Infarct, a study conducted by Centeno-cortes et al, showed that no such increase was caused as a result of this disclosure. On the contrary, it has been observed that informed patients are able to share their concerns about the illness and its consequences’ with their relatives and care givers. This helps the family to address the issues, and thus take better care of the patient. The study also found that patient who was not informed of the diagnosis tended to be more anxious and at times felt desperate.

Openening channels of communication help to maintain trust between the patient and the doctor. Therapeutic decisions can be discussed with the patient and carried out with his or her full consent and knowledge. It gives the patient opportunity to clarify his doubts and fear and hence reduce uncertainty. It also allows the patient to make practical and emotional adjustment to the illness; thereby providing closure to his or her life. Diagnosis disclosure in cancer is also correlated with improved symptom control and patient satisfaction with the care given to him.

Lastly, it is also important to remember that the patient, is still the same person, your relative, or friend… so do not treat them differently, do not shun them, just love them as before, and let them know that you are there for them. Most importantly just be yourself.

V care information resources:

V care provides helping booklet about cancer their treatments and coping with these include chemotherapy radiation therapy and diet for cancer patients.

At any stage of disease, supportive care is available to relieve the side effects of treatment, and to ease emotional concerns. Further information you can meet with one our volunteers or call out troll free help line-